His Master's Voice

Outside it heralds April

the secret grill of agency

the back patio of St Antonio

lost legacies of absent fathers

mesquite thorn coal fire 

glowing in the west

right back there at Inwood

St Augustine dreams

right back there in the woods

down by the creek

turning over wet stone

searching for god's sign

what was once written
underneath

alphabets of mosses

her bright fallen hair

hieroglyphic minnows 

silver slivers shining starlight

and he is there

right where he always was

waiting for me to find him

not trying to hide

that face at the limit
of the fire's light

skull like shadows

watching over me

dark guardian

minnow flash of this
in my memory

all brought on by
the burning mesquite

We stay there in the kitchen

windows open
sprung evening air

half drunk 

sitting on the counters
under stove light

listening to Joe Nick's records

on the portable player
some R&B collection

and Barbara Lewis

this perfect voice

parting the melancholy curtain of

shoo-bop

shoo-bop

my baby

Hello Stranger

it seems so good to see you back again

a distant voice calling me back

to Inwood

to Gunstream

to an ancient face

from the fire

I know I've heard the song before

perhaps the first time with my mother

watching her listen

and seeing her gaze turn inwards

sinking into sorrow

of a lost husband

It seems like a mighty long time

mighty long time

and those shoo-bops

like crickets in the night

under a honeyed moon 

on a beach

in Galveston

But I've never listened to the song before

here in San Antonio

sunk under weighted waves

rising out of distant
long passed disasters
those selfsame waves
in sequent toil
once erasing the shore
now carving into it

listening to this surf's song alone

sung words spinning

I am right back there 

and he is right back here

never having gone

a pattern unmoving but alive

so still it seemed part of the water

so quiet it seemed part of the silence

And Barbara Lewis 

sings his words

to me
he is speaking
to me
through music
under this pressure
of the present presence 

memory breaks

down into

shoo-bop

shoo-bop
my baby
mantra prayer invocation

incarnating
what seemed a ghost
what seemed lost memory

I know he never left
I know he never died

I know now it was me
always me

I was the one
who unremembered
buried the unconcealing
under covering

I am
my absent father

my lost son
my dead friend

my dream forgot
my love left alone

and I am listening
to this song
this fragile net of notes
words written on the water

over and over

I am
the drowning man
descending
forgetting
overburdened
with the weight
of my own deceiving

I am
letting go
opening the hand
that instinctually held on
letting go the coward's knife
easiest thing in the world

eyes cut opening like stars

because I can again hear

being sung by Barbara Lewis

bell clear being
ringing through
the pasteboard mask
of this world
seeing
his hand on the rope
hearing
the bell resounding
membrane through marrow
engraving
and I am dawned upon
believing

As you know
you know
you remember
that dog's doggy brain burning
transfixed
with an incomprehensible
yearning
waging tail
wagging wagging
before the Victrola's trumpet
on the player's table turning
forever listening
as his master's voice
is being
unsealing

Shoo-bop shoo-bop
my baby
shoo-bop shoo-bop
my baby
it seems like a mighty long time

***

Hello, stranger
(ooh) It seems so good to see you back again
How long has it been?
(ooh, seems like a mighty long time)
(shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby, ooh)
It seems like a mighty long time

Oh-uh-oh, I my, my, my, my
I'm so glad
You stopped by to say "hello" to me
Remember that's the way it used to be
Ooh, it seems like a mighty long time
(shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby, ooh)

Oh-uh-oh
I'm so glad you're here again

Oh-uh-oh
Shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby
Shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby

Oh-ahh-uh-oh
If you're not gonna stay
(ooh) Please don't treat me like you did before
Because I still love you so a-a-although
It seems like a mighty long time

Shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby, ooh
It seems like a mighty long time
Oh-uh-oh, I my, my, my, my
I'm so happy that you're here again
(shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby)

Wikipedia:

Hello Stranger" was written by Barbara Lewis herself, who was originally inspired to write a song with that title while working gigs in Detroit with her musician father: “I would make the circuit with my dad and people would yell out: ‘Hey stranger, hello stranger, it’s been a long time’". The song is notable because its title comprises the first two words of the lyrics but is never at any point repeated throughout the rest of the song. 

Lewis recorded "Hello Stranger" at Chess Studios in Chicago in January 1963. The track's producer Ollie McLaughlin recruited the Dells to provide the background vocals. The arrangement by Riley Hampton - then working with Etta James - featured a signature organ riff provided by keyboardist John Young. The track was completed after thirteen takes. Lewis would recall that, on hearing the playback of the finished track, Dells member Chuck Barksdale "kept jumping up and down and saying, ‘It’s a hit, it’s a hit.’...I didn’t really know. It was all new to me.” 

McLaughlin flew to New York City to pitch "Hello Stranger" to Atlantic Records, who had picked up Lewis' previous two singles for national release. Atlantic optioned "Hello Stranger" but then had second thoughts on the viability of releasing such an unusual track. The ascendancy of "Our Day Will Come" by Ruby & the Romantics to the top of the Pop and R&B charts in March 1963 motivated Atlantic to release "Hello Stranger" that month;[2] entering the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1963, the track took another month to reach the Top 40. Impelled by its #1 status in St. Louis, MO, it entered the Billboard Top Ten that June for a five-week stay.